LACK OF COMPASSION AND LOTS OF CORRUPTION

Is there a law that governs the procedure for discharging hospital patients with unpaid accounts? Mr. Noel de la Rosa UP music student was operated at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Center (UERM) and has been given discharge orders by his doctor. However, he was detained by the hospital even with a promissory note to pay his remaining bills. Does a hospital really have the right to do this? As it looks now, we may be lacking a law that would clear up this issue, but that is no reason for UERM to show a lack of compassion for this humanitarian cause.

**

I had the chance to visit the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) twice last week, and I was very much impressed at how clean their premises are. That’s the good news, but the bad news is that their supply of medicines is still scarce. Patients have to buy their own medicines and other supplies, which is a difficult thing for them to do, because most of them are indigents. Some lawmakers have transferred their pork barrel funds to this hospital. That’s the good news, but the bad news is that access to these funds is limited only to those whom they favor. Can’t we just have even one charity hospital in this country where all expenses would be free? This is one way of showing compassion to the poor.

**

I am neither a doctor nor an economist, but I have reason to believe that the costs of medical services in this country are abnormally very high because of bad economics and rampant corruption. The good news at the UP-PGH is that doctor’s fees and room expenses are free, but the bad news is that patients have to pay for everything else. As we already know, the prices of medicines in the Philippines are abnormally high too, because if the high marketing costs that are partly made higher by the way that the drug companies are spoiling (read as corrupting) many doctors.

**

Looking like a horror story that was too bad to be true, the Sorsogon Provincial Government is being accused of graft and corruption by no other than their own Provincial Board Member. This report attracted my attention, because among others, it included three cases of corruption in the public health sector. According to the report, about 50 million worth of public funds were misappropriated for a “floating clinic”, for a village drugstore and for a health & sanitation project. The complainant (and whistle blower), Board Member Rebecca Aquino requested the Commission on Audit (COA) to assign a special audit team to investigate these cases. It’s a good thing that the COA granted Aquino’s request, but will there not be a conflict of interest on the part of this team, as they investigate their own peers? After all, a total of P858 million supposedly lost for the past six years could not have disappeared without the head office boys knowing about it.

**

Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay wants City residents to have universal coverage from PHILHEALTH. This is a very practical move, since it turns out that the existing PHILHEALTH coverage is very limited, and members still have to pay so much more, often beyond their means. Luckily for Makati City residents, they have a “Yellow Card” program that is able to pay for a portion of what PHILHEALTH does not pay for. For sure, the premiums for the universal coverage will be higher, but chances are, it will lower the “social costs” of Makati City in the overall.

**

Is Mayor Binay able to deliver quality health services to his City residents simply because his City Hall has lots of money, or is it because he has lots of practical programs that are working very well? If it is just a question of money, then we could reasonably expect the other Mayors who have lesser money to also deliver their own health services, albeit with a lesser level than Makati City. Since this is apparently not the case, we could probably say that Binay’s edge is his compassion for his City residents, which he translates into real delivery programs.

**

Who is really in the best position to monitor the graft and corruption that happens in many government-owned hospitals? Is it really the COA? Time and again, we have seen that COA auditors who stay too long in a place of assignment tend to “take root” sooner or later, thus making it easier for them to be corrupted. Is there no better way of monitoring and reporting the performance of public hospitals? In New York City, all hospitals owned by the local government are placed under the management of a public corporation. All these hospitals are vetted and rated against all other hospitals at par, so it does not matter whether they are publicly or privately owned. How far are we from achieving this very efficient system? With more compassion and lesser corruption, I am sure we could do it.